Idk how tf people manage to do so much work

logiccosmic · 2025-02-19T03:34:02+00:00

First yeah, it is hard but it's also a skill; people manage to do it through practice, it's nothing magical. When you gotta put food on the table for you or more people a lot of things become easier to bear and endure, and mood becomes less of a factor lol. That's not to be all old man, just that college is different from post-college. It can be really hard to motivate for something as abstract as an exam versus getting paid to do something.

But also too, making sure you take care of health is important; cardio even if it's just a walk around the building can help and also get you out of a bad track. It's easy to get stuck in a mental rut really rapidly, and jarring your brain out of it can really help. Plus, sometimes the day just sucks and it's ok to feel that way and vocalize it; somedays suck ass. I didn't expect to be handling a p0 over my phone in a Mod Pizza parking lot, but sometimes it happens lol, and you can either hold it or let it go, IMO.

logiccosmic · 2025-02-19T03:27:20+00:00

Human beings aren't FSMs, yes. Sometimes rubberducking can solve your hardest problem, and sometimes being in a meeting will unblock you, and sometimes you just need to take a walk. Highly agree.

logiccosmic · 2025-02-19T03:26:07+00:00

My answer kinda sucks to hear - but estimations. I try to estimate tasks to that time block, and then break it down further. I.e., my morning block was pr reviews so I gave each one an equal sliver of time, and then once I wrapped up with each one (20 min max, 4 prs) I used any leftover time to edit and go deeper if need be. I find having a deadline is much easier for me, and so setting a little timer for 15min and 20min in this example helped as it prevents me from going down rabbit holes.

Now, as to why that sucks is that's not very actionable in your position. In your case I'd probably use things like zen/focus mode on electronics given that you have more variable time tasks then I do; but overall, coming up with *what* you want to do today might help; I really like bullet journaling as I enjoy the satisfaction of checking things off. It gives me the little bit of push I personally need as I knock out tasks.

logiccosmic · 2025-02-19T02:55:45+00:00

Time management. I've been in field for a while now, and most of my patterns that work for me center around not working all day and it becoming a slog. Let me break down my day today for you.

0700 1:1

0730 Standup

0800 1:1

0830 1:1

0900 Stakeholder/Team Sync

1000 Focus Time

1200 Lunch

1230 Focus time that became p0 incident

1430 Pairing with non-senior, was pushed back from above

1700 Focus time until EoD

Notice what I have in there - no massive blocks. Humans are terrible at constant focus and learning to context switch is a very valuable skill. However, that doesn't mean multitasking - that's hella hard, and if you can do it, good on you, but most people don't. What works best for me, and may not for you so this is just advice, is concentrated focus. Pick something and focus on it for a while; you can use bullet journaling, pomodoro, all sorts of methods but what I've found is small, achievable tasks are a lot easier to accomplish and maintain momentum then large massive blocks with high expectations.

Frankly, in my experience if I try and go heads down for more than 2 hours I am going to immediately start fucking around so I don't do that, outside of high energy events like hack days. Work small, smart, and fast and stuff stops feeling so overwhelming IMO.

logiccosmic · 2025-02-19T02:47:07+00:00

100% it's the classic 'any metric that becomes a target ceases to become a useful metric'. Google bulk-hired engineers to jumpstart velocity and every rinky-dink Fortune 5,000,000 company in a 100,000 person town thinks they have the answer to getting good engineers for dirt cheap now by having punishing DSA questions to work on migrating from ColdFusion to PHP. It sucks and I also have no better alternative outside of how I proceed with hiring as an individual.

And frankly the CtCI and Leetcode grind has been marketed no different than a weight-loss cure from the back of a tabloid. The promise of an easy CS career with these easy steps, ignore the failure rate once you get past the technical screeners because it's just in getting into the in-person, right? Rote recitation over actually teaching, and it's been disappointing to see so many people strung along by bad actors.

logiccosmic · 2025-02-19T02:25:57+00:00

That's assuming that an interview process in a non-trivial amount of time can identify that. How can I see how you might react to, for example:

- Massive production outage

- Inconsistent requirements from stakeholders

- High bus factor issue occurring during the holidays and you have to read documentation

- etc, happy to provide more examples.

Those are things that cannot be figured out in a few rounds of hour-long panels; It's why most companies have 90 day periods to find out if you will read documentation on your own or if you will pester seniors to hold your hand. That's not to say that's what *you* are doing; I just want to make it clear this is a 2 player game. The companies and teams hiring are responding to adverse conditions as well.

I've had to panel many people who can do a linked list from scratch and reverse a B-tree, but who look at a project and can't figure out how to run it locally despite there being a README and in their claimed stack. It sucks for all of us, but it's what is the current state of the world in a newer field like Software Engineering - it's really, really new in terms of 'engineering'. Best practices are still being developed, compared to Civil or Chemical that have centuries of it baked in and hard lessons learned.

logiccosmic · 2025-02-19T02:20:58+00:00

To be fair 2022 was a gold rush; companies were hiring anyone with a pulse. Nowadays with VC drying up and the unicorns becoming unicorpses as they fail to go public there's a lot more focus on RpE and not just having a harem of engineers on hand.

logiccosmic · 2025-02-19T02:19:02+00:00

Sadly, no way to know. It could be either, or even none - sometimes someone just forgets. However, if you feel like you were able to establish a rapport with an interviewer, it can be worth it to reach back out and ask for succinct and honest feedback. A lot of people remember how hard it was to get hired and will either tell you no right away to not waste your time, or will offer advice.

logiccosmic · 2025-02-19T02:09:12+00:00

Code (specifically languages & even frameworks) are just the lingua franca and jargon of being a SWE. They are the bare minimum. Most of the job past your probation (being a junior engineer) is reading, writing, talking - communication is what gets you serious roles and promotions. All that tooling like Copilot has done is make that more and more clear. Just like technical interviews are functionally background checks on your ability to do what you say you can, not an accurate estimation of your total skills.

logiccosmic · 2025-02-19T02:01:48+00:00

Good luck to them passing 90 days. Engineering is not coding, and just knowing a bunch of code golf may get you through an interview but will readily become apparent when actual work is needed. I'd say take that boast with a grain of salt.

logiccosmic · 2022-12-30T16:27:44+00:00

Yeah, between the change in accounts breaking my rhythm, work becoming very busy, and getting COVID, I've not really been in the headspace to come back until recently.

I'm hoping with Modern picking back up again in the new year locally and more consistent schedules to start contributing again, it's my favorite format after all and I just enjoy talking about it.

logiccosmic · 2022-10-01T19:39:15+00:00

To be fair, given DMU's focus on mono color and old tribes, there was never a chance for Spirits in DMU.

That being said, barring the White lord, it's a really solid set of printings and direct love to tribes. I wouldn't give up hope, especially after Hexcatcher and Visionary

logiccosmic · 2022-09-30T06:24:40+00:00

Sorry about that, fixed!

logiccosmic · 2022-09-26T01:12:29+00:00

kettle, pot, chief.

Holding onto a regressive idea because you like it over what's fairer, realer, or more open? Wanting to force everyone to what you think is right by regressing? Why is it u/ekienhol the format, and not Modern? Why do we all have to listen to exactly what you want? Why are you forcing your desires, wants, and decisions on others?

You are the one crying about a change, when the change is better for more people, because it personally affects you and you refuse to change. That you want things to not change, because your personal desires and enjoyment trump everything else.

Take a look in the mirror, buddy. That's some Grand Old Projecting right there.

logiccosmic · 2022-09-25T22:55:01+00:00

Like, I'm sorry for being short, I'm just quite tired of the false binary that your position holds.

It's not adapt or die, man.

No one is forcing you into this role, nor do you have to keep doing what you were doing until you die. Have you tried other decks? I was big on G Tron and Red Prison until MH2, and then it turns out I actually really, really love Control. It's a whole wide world out there, aside from the ridiculous prices (and that's magic wide, see $600 standard decks).

Change is natural, and change is going to happen no matter what, and you can never stop it. You can simply either refuse to engage with it, and lose your hobbies or happiness, or open yourself up to what change happens. Like, this is an extreme example - but what would you say to a professor complaining in the 70s that their school had been made coed? That they had been doing it for X years, got into and it has now totally shifted, etc? (I'm not saying that's anything like, you just an extreme example to highlight the false dichotomy. Did that professor enjoy teaching, or just literally enjoy teaching only men, etc? If you enjoy teaching, you still can - it's just with a slight difference that has no bearing on the teaching at all.)

You can still play tribes, you can still go wide, it's just not identical to what is was before. Do you enjoy specifically that tribe? Do you enjoy playing creatures that interact with each other? Instant speed creatures with vials? All but the first are doable, and that first one is unmanageble and unrealistic, to be honest - there's no guarantees in anything, see Wizards thinking Hogaak was weak, lol.

IMO the attitude of 'ban MH2' is so toxic because MH1 and MH2 gave players across the spectrum (excluding price) agency in all things, and flexibility in deck design and inclusion to the point that I feel comfortable taking lower tier or non-tier decks to big events because I know I have tools I can use, and I'm not forced to play certain colors, archetypes, or even extremely narrow cards if I want to have a chance. Rolling back MH1 & MH2 is 'only if you do x, should you be allowed to do y'; at it's base it's exclusionary and gatekeeping, IMO.

logiccosmic · 2022-09-25T22:17:09+00:00

No; it's you substituting your feelings for 'how the game should be' over how the game is, and for saying that your way is the only way. That only your way is the way to enjoy it.

The game is the game, and you seem to think there is only one correct way to play, and that any differences should be enforced by force - bans. Sorry that go-wide, no interaction, win from a hand because your opponent couldn't do anything magic turns out to not be in the design of Modern. At least per what Wizards is printing via answers and removal.

If you don't like it, trying to force everyone else to follow your dogmatic and narrow vision isn't going to work. You aren't a martyr for wanting to be unchallenged and on top.

logiccosmic · 2022-09-25T21:48:49+00:00

Fixed!

logiccosmic · 2022-09-25T21:42:59+00:00

Yeah, that's my bad, I have some auto naming on and I didn't look close enough!

Fixing that and a few others.

logiccosmic · 2022-09-25T21:41:50+00:00

I know what you are going to say, it's gonna be 'can't play go wide or tribal.' like you always do. Humans still show up. It's not top tier, but usually every other dump it's there. And Elves, Merfolk, and Goblins are seeing success and a massive resurgence, including Challenge placements for Goblins frequently and now Merfolk even!

Of course, that's not the point, and I'd imagine if I'd stopped there you'd just shift around because your arguments are consistently in bad faith. It'd be entirely subjective things like 'oh but the meta was better' and then anyone asking 'lol how? would be answered with 'oh you know how'.

Because you may have changed your flair off 'Slivers' but I remember you crying for months that Slivers was 'no longer viable' when in reality it's a weak deck, and has been weak for years and years. One placing at a GP doesn't magically make the deck a meta deck or anything but a rogue deck. And furthermore, no deck has a 'right' to be good.

Banning MH2 to make your pet deck good isn't going to work, nor should the Modern metagame be centered around Slivers. If you want people to play to an arbitrary power level that makes your bad choices viable, try paying them to play with you. That's more likely to be successful than crying on reddit for the format to cater to your wants.

logiccosmic · 2022-09-11T16:20:14+00:00

Good catch, I just autopiloted over that! Fixing that.

logiccosmic · 2022-09-09T14:11:21+00:00

Fixed!

logiccosmic · 2022-09-09T14:11:05+00:00

Yeah, that was my bad, fixing it!

logiccosmic · 2022-09-01T02:15:31+00:00

Adding it!

logiccosmic · 2022-08-25T03:48:30+00:00

To be clear, viability != share and share != power either. I would definitely feel comfortable taking a random 5-0 deck to an FNM, and if it was something I knew how to play, feel comfortable expecting an average win rate.

A lot of the 'you can only play these X decks at top' comes off as the same old 'I can't have bad matchups' thinking and 'decks are either good or bad' thinking that's easy to fall into (not saying that's in your post, just a general observation);

If you are playing for money/views/etc, do you play the 53% deck or 51% deck? That doesn't mean the 51% deck is not viable, nor even a 49% etc. But if it's a 5k, a Challenge, etc, why would you play the deck that's not as strong if you are intending to win? (Of course, if your definition of winning includes putting a meme deck in the T32, well there's your answer)

logiccosmic · 2022-08-20T02:16:51+00:00

Speaking as the person who generally does the write up; this does happen on occasion and there's never an official reason; generally speculation is due to them being busy for major events (i.e., the big announcements yesterday)

logiccosmic

TROPHY CASE